


The Long Rest

by MegumitheGreat



Series: Shameless Mitchentine what-ifs, inserts, and fixes [5]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe-Mitch Lives, Amputation, F/M, Major Spoilers, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, One-Shot, One-Shot Series, Post-Canon, Self-Indulgent, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-18 14:50:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21278642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegumitheGreat/pseuds/MegumitheGreat
Summary: After Clementine and AJ make their final stand in James' barn, AJ is met with the decision to either kill Clementine or leave her to turn.  The Ericson kids rescue them from the horde outside the barn, and once they cut off Clementine's leg, they take them back to the school to recover.  AJ and Mitch take turns watching over her.
Relationships: Clementine & Mitch (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: Shameless Mitchentine what-ifs, inserts, and fixes [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1358140
Kudos: 13





	The Long Rest

**Author's Note:**

> IT HAS CERTAINLY BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE A MITCHENTINE FIC! I wasn't sure how to proceed, and more than likely I might do the bridge at some point...or I could just move on. Like, the bridge wouldn't be different with Mitch imo. So now we start chugging along to some post-canon shipping stuff! I'm also not proofing this one because it's 1AM and I wanna SLEEP.

AJ watched over Clementine with cold eyes. A child his age wasn’t supposed to have such a serious look, wasn’t supposed to have seen such horrors, and shouldn’t ever have to make the choice of killing someone they loved to prevent them from turning. Clementine’s sickly face was burned into his mind and etched into his heart that it was unknown if he would ever be able to forget it. But still he stayed her side, perched on the desk decorated by curious objects his guardian had collected during her time at Ericson. He always did that because it made him feel big and strong. He wanted to protect her just like she had since he was born.

Every single kid was worried for her. Cutting off her leg and making sure she didn’t bleed out was much more than Ruby had ever expected to do as the unofficial amateur nurse among them. She was thankful for Mitch being there. He was still in bad shape from what Lilly had done to him, but he was healing.

But that was the thing—he was still alive. He had never been bitten. The one he loved and would do anything to protect her had been. She had been showing signs that she was reaching the end of her rope. Greying skin, sunken eyes, weakness, and disorientation—Clementine knew that it was coming because she had seen Lee. And even though he had been bitten, and even though someone had tried to save him by cutting off his arm, there was no guarantee that it would work.

When her leg was removed, she had already passed out. The amputation had been treated and cauterized with Aasim’s and Willy’s guidance on fires and how to heat metal. Mitch, unsure if Clementine would wake up from the agony of losing a limb and feeling the hellish burning, held her steady. AJ held her hand. She didn’t wake up, and there was fear that she was already gone. Violet had been ready to put her down. Nothing happened, though.

Days passed, and Clementine didn’t wake up. Her symptoms were disappearing, indicating that perhaps there was some hope. But nothing else changed. AJ took it upon himself to guard her during the day while Mitch took over at night. Willy kept them company, and the older boy encouraged AJ to go play with him or learn how to build traps.

“I can’t leave Clem,” he always told him. “What if she needs me? I have to be with her.”

“I know, little dude,” Mitch sighed every time. “I’m worried about her, too. But…well, Clem wouldn’t forgive me if I let you starve. Now, go on, get.”

AJ trusted Mitch to oversee her recovery. One day after leaving with Willy to go get dinner from Omar, Mitch took a seat on the bed Clementine was resting in. He didn’t like how peaceful she looked. He couldn’t tell if she was really alive or dead, and he didn’t want to touch her in case AJ came back and thought the worst. So, he sat and watched her unmoving beside him.

“This is all my fault,” he muttered. “If…If I hadn’t gotten caught, I wouldn’t have been dragged to that boat and put you in danger like that. Of all the people I could protect, I let you down the most.” He leaned back a little while forgetting that there was only one leg there now. “Some…boyfriend…I am.”

He looked around the bedroom. He saw the skulls all over the walls and shelves. A deer skull, like how Marlon had looked when AJ shot him. A boar skull, when chaos fell upon the school and Lilly took their friends. A cat skull, similar to Brody’s skittishness. And a human skull, a reminder that these days, who we were can easily be forgotten. There were other trinkets and toys from the good old days when they were younger and barely understood what death meant. He wished her could be young again and go back home to his parents, who he was sure by now were dead and walking.

“Hey, Clem, what was it like at your house? Do you think that if things got better, we could all go see it? I want to go home, but I don’t think I’m ready to see what happened yet. But you’re cool and strong, so I think maybe you could show us your place first and be, like, ‘Yeah, this was my place back in the day’. I’m sure AJ would like it, and Willy. You’re from Georgia, right? What if we went looking around the old farms and stuff? Ruby’d get a kick out of any farm animals. Violet and Louis…well, I don’t know what they’d expect to see. I guess, your bedroom? Doubt it’s still standing.”

Mitch yawned. He thought he’d be able to stay awake since he had been staying up every night, but dreaming about what used to be and all the places they could go if they had a car or van or something tired him out. He just wanted her to wake up.

“…ee…” a whimpering voice came from behind him. He turned around. “Wait…Lee…”

“Clementine?!” Mitch gasped. “AJ! Willy!” he called down the hall. Then he returned to her side, taking her hand and calling to her. “Follow my voice!”

AJ and Willy came running to the door when they saw Mitch leaning over Clementine expectantly. He was gripping her hand so tightly, and he begged her to listen to his voice. Finally, she cracked her eyes open. There Mitch was, staring down at her for once looking so worried that he might have cried.

“Mitch…?” she uttered.

“Jesus, you’re actually alive!” Mitch both laughed and barely was able to say. Scooping her up in his arms, he hugged her into the bed.

“Clem!” AJ cried out. Mitch moved out of the way so the little child could climb onto the bed and throw his arms around her. “You made it! You’re alive!”

“What happened? How did I get here?” Clementine asked.

“It’s a long story,” Willy replied. “I should go tell Ruby that you’re awake. You know, so we know what to do next.”

“Ruby’s asleep, though,” AJ told him. “Why don’t we just wait until morning?”

“Probably a good idea,” Mitch agreed. “Besides, I doubt you’d want to see everyone just yet.”

Clementine held her head. She still felt in a daze since she hadn’t had anything in her stomach for days. Omar would cook them breakfast, and then they would catch her up on things. She wanted time to think.

“I dreamt about Lee,” she said. She couldn’t remember if they all knew about him, but in her dream, she was walking back to her house. It was yellow, with a pool and a big tree in the backyard. Her treehouse was still there, and the tire swing under it swung gently in the breeze. Her little tea set sat in the crotch of its roots. “Lee was in my house, and I wanted to go inside with him and my parents and all the friends that have died. They were throwing a party, but Lee said I couldn’t come inside yet.” She looked forlorn. “I’ve wanted to see him for so long, but he said that I still had work to do. And then I heard Mitch’s voice.”

Mitch blushed and looked away from her. It was embarrassing—calling his girlfriend from the edge of death wasn’t something he wanted to be remembered for. But he smiled at her. She was back in her new home with her new family.

**Author's Note:**

> It's going to be a long time before the next one. School was ROUGH these past two weeks, and well, I want to make the next installment special. You can take a guess at it.


End file.
